Posts Tagged ‘Nikon’

Earlier this year was my first encounter with Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) at Mono Lake in the Californian Eastern Sierras. They were just arriving and the guide books said that there would be so many that you could walk on them to the other side of the lake! However, when visiting Saskatoon Lake Provincial Park […]

This is a recent post from our travel blog www.fulltimervingwiththekings.com It is yet another amazing thing that we literally just stumbled upon, witnessed and then learnt more about. Eel Fishing at Klamath River Estuary Hope you enjoy Gear: Nikon D800, Nikkor 80.0-400.0mm f/4.5-5.6 VRIII; Nikkor TC-17 EII; Lexar Digital Film

Last year Louise & I spent many hours “stalking” Whimbrels (Numenius phaseopus) while we were in Churchill, Manitoba and had a fantastic adventure. One of my Whimbrel images from that adventure is below…. Now, in Florida, shooting shorebirds, wading birds and the occasional diurnal raptor we come face to face with one of Whimbrel’s cousins. […]

Well, actually it is not that far North, Southern Ontario, but it is January, it has snowed, it is -16C with a 40 kph wind blowing – it certainly feels like the frozen North. I am on a workshop to shoot Snowy Owls. This winter there is a very large over-population of Snowy Owls and […]

If I am not away on a trip, Hamilton Park in New Jersey is where I try to head to on a “clear” night with a full moon. The park is at the top of a cliff overlooking mid-town Manhattan. The cliff provides the perspective I love, rather than being at river level. From this […]

Yes a great deal of the shorebirds that we see during our summer vacations and all winter long fly thousands of miles to the tundra in order to mate and breed. Part of this process is the courtship of the males and females to choose their partners and then nest and mate. One of my […]

Yes, I am still here in Churchill, Manitoba. Although the workshop concluded on Sunday morning I am here putting my lessons into practice. One of the pre-requisites for the workshop was a pair of “Hip-Boots”. Something I had never heard of, but a quick search on the internet showed me what I had to get […]

I am on a Moose Peterson workshop in Churchill, Manitoba to photograph the nesting migrating birds. Why? Because most of the shorebirds display dramatically different plumage when mating and these images can only be caught here! So we are on our second day and I wanted to share with you come of the images from […]

Yes indeed the Burrowing Owl digs its own burrow in which to lay and hatch its young! In Cape Coral, Florida you are told to look for vacant building lots to search for Burrowing Owls (Athene Caunicularia). This proves the Owls are a wise as legend has, because in Cape Coral their habitats are protected […]

In landscape photography nine times out of ten the skies really make the image. That is why most photographers hate bald skies (cloudless) because they are a boring sheet of blue. Recently when i was in Monument Valley, I would not shoot any landscapes because it was yet another day of bald sky and I […]

I just love to watch dramatic skies – and there are many of those here in Florida. This one was taken during the “Sun ‘n Fun” Airshow. The weather wasn’t too kind and some displays were cancelled and others modified to suit the weather and the ceiling. But it was a great airshow none the […]

I made a return visit to Pinecraft Park in Sarasota to show Louise the Barred Owls and the Pileated Woodpeckers. However, on this visit I could only shoot the juveniles. We did see an adult Barred Owl, but it was right against the trunk of a tree and completely obscured by branches and leaves. But […]

Recently, was it really only yesterday, I had my first encounter with a Pileated Woodpecker and that was fantastic. Today I was heading for The Celery Fields near Saratoga (well in the last ten days I had been to two different Lettuce Lakes – perhaps there is a salad theme here?) having had the best […]

I always rise early so that I can shoot in the sweet light of the morning. At The Rookery the sun rises behind you as you are lining up on the wildlife which is just perfect. Today was a GREAT day for me – I saw (and shot) my first Pileated Woodpecker. What a treat, […]

Visiting The Rookery at Venice again there is this Great Egret nest on the edge of the “island” in full view. For the first time I saw Great Egret chicks – how startlingly strange they look with their green skin an white “punk” plumage around their head and necks. And those big eyes, which when […]

All good images have their anchor points which give you the context for the whole image. However, I am at the TICO Warbird Airshow, the air show flying hasn’t started yet, but there is a magnificent Florida Sky! I call them Florida skies because I have only seen them in Florida, there appears to be […]

I called my 200mm-400mm f/4 VRII lens “Big Bertha” when I first got it because it is big and also heavy. I use this mostly for airs hows. I have recently acquired “Bigger Bertha” to use for wildlife and this was “Bigger’s” first outing. Also for my new heavier duty Really Right Stuff tripod and […]

As a photographer I am always studying the light of any potential image and I am always looking for that special, unusual and rare light. The special light doesn’t happen very often and when I can capture it with a click or two I feel extremely lucky and privileged. Here are two examples of what […]

Often, as a child, airplanes were referred to as the “big silver bird”. This description was aimed at civilian commercial airliners rather than military ‘planes (the military always applied camouflage schemes to make their aircraft less visible to the enemy). However, recently, with the restoration of old warbirds (such as the P-51 Mustang, B17 Flying […]

The Black Diamond Jet Team are a rare commodity in our skies inasmuch as they are civilian owned. During the 2012 season they are fully sponsored by United Bank Card, Inc. Thank you United Bank Card, Inc. The Arctic Camouflage is a very bright scheme albeit in black, white and grey, but to me as […]

Nikkor 200-400mm f/4 G VRII AF-S Having made the decision to move away from shooting film in my Hasselblad “V” series cameras I spent over a year agonizing “do I go Hasselblad H4D or Nikon D3X?”. A key reason for choosing the Nikon path was that I could (eventually) get long lenses and return to Wildlife […]

Up in the air, bouncing around in the back of a Short Brothers’ Skyvan with the back door open, on a Moose Peterson workshop, and I think this guy wants to come aboard and join us! The air behind the Skyvan is very rough as it is not an aerodynamically shaped design – roughly square […]

This beautiful aircraft in polished metal finish just cries out to me BLACK & WHITE ! So here is the first crop (pun intended, although I don’t crop!) of the images for the T-6 Texan trainer. (Taken on an Air2Air workshop with Moose Peterson). Hope you enjoy!

About

When I was 10 my dad lent me the family Brownie Box camera to go on my first school trip - a week away in Swanage. I used all of the three rolls of black and white Kodak 120 film and was enthralled by the results. I haven't stopped shooting in the 40+ years since - and I am still using Kodak black and white 120 roll film!